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Computer Science and Engineering MSE | MS

Alex Halderman speaking to a group of CSE students in the Bob and Betty Beyster CSE building Tishman Hall

Contact Computer Science and Engineering Admissions

Jasmin Stubblefield

Graduate Programs Manager

Quentin Stout, CSE Graduate Programs Chair
Quentin Stout

Master’s Program Chair

Computer Science and Engineering at Michigan Statistics

Computer science students

No. 7

Computer Engineering - US News & World Report

No.11

in Computer Science - US News & World Report

2:1

faculty-to-master’s student ratio

24.8M+

research expenditures

22%

female students (FA22)

students from around the world
80% out of state
58% international

Why Computer Science and Engineering at Michigan?

Earning your master’s in CSE from Michigan means flexibility and attention–

you: are free to customize your own core curriculum of technical courses; can choose to engage in research or a guided study; can pursue an optional master’s thesis; and will always have close access to faculty to get valuable insight into these decisions.

Autonomous vehicle on Mcity roadway
student testing sensors

What can you do with a Master’s in Computer Science and Engineering?

A master’s in CSE offers a big return on a relatively small time investment – beef up your computing skillset and get a career boost with only 1-2 years of schooling.

Most students take on this degree for earlier access to the field’s most competitive salaries. CSE at UM provides students with close access to faculty, the opportunity to engage in compelling research and complete a master’s thesis, and a curriculum built on a focused base of advanced technical courses. Students will explore broad areas of high-level computing, with coursework in artificial intelligence, hardware, software, theory, and more.

student programming in CSE
CSE research with virtual reality goggles

Research Thrusts

A thesis is not required for the master’s in Computer Science and Engineering; however, the option to complete one is available for students in good academic standing.

CSE students working on a laptop

Students are encouraged to take advantage of directed study and become involved in research as part of their MSE experience.

CSE research generally falls into one or more of our 12 research areas:

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Chip Design, Architecture, & Emerging Devices
  • Databases & Data Mining
  • Embedded & Mobile Systems
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Formal Methods & Automated Reasoning
  • Languages, Compilers, & Runtime Systems
  • Networking, Operating Systems, & Distributed Systems
  • Robotics
  • Secure, Trustworthy, & Reliable Systems
  • Theory of Computation
  • Warehouse-Scale & Parallel Systems

Courses Offered

Apart from core course requirements, course requirements in the “breadth” areas of software, hardware, artificial intelligence, and theory must also be satisfied. Individualized plans of study will be developed by students in consultation with a faculty advisor.

group of students testing an online app
CSE students in a classroom

Sequential Undergraduate/Graduate Studies Program (SUGS)

Current University of Michigan engineering students can complete both their bachelor’s and master’s degrees in as little as five years under the SUGS program by taking some graduate-level classes towards the end of their undergraduate years. This allows students to save themselves one semester and complete a master’s with only two additional semesters.

person playing guitar

Practice Your Purpose

There is a rich variety of experiential learning opportunities to help you find your niche, connect with people who share your passion, and gain hands-on experience that’ll set your resumé apart from the stack.

Graduate Student Orgs

Computer Science Engineering Graduate group photo
Computer Science and Engineering Graduate Student Organization

Computer Science and Engineering Graduate Student Organization

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ECSEL student group photo
Ensemble of Computer Science and Engineering Ladies+

Ensemble of Computer Science and Engineering Ladies+

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Professional Development

Engineering Career Fair on North Campus
Engineering Career Resource Center (ECRC)

Engineering Career Resource Center (ECRC)

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Tau Beta Pi group photo
Tau Beta Pi

Tau Beta Pi

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Graduate Society of Women Engineers group photo
Graduate SWE

Graduate SWE

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GSBES student organization group photo
Graduate Society of Black Engineers and Scientists

Graduate Society of Black Engineers and Scientists

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Computer Science and Engineering Research

artificial intelligence research at CSE at U-M
Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence

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chip design in computer science research
Chip Design, Architecture, & Emerging Devices

Chip Design, Architecture, & Emerging Devices

Learn More — >
computer programming
Databases & Data Mining

Databases & Data Mining

Learn More — >
Phone app photo
Embedded & Mobile Systems

Embedded & Mobile Systems

Learn More — >
Computer science formal methods
Formal Methods & Automated Reasoning

Formal Methods & Automated Reasoning

Learn More — >
student taking a picture of a robot
Human-Computer Interaction

Human-Computer Interaction

Learn More — >
graphic depicting computer programing on a screen
Languages, Compilers, & Runtime Systems

Languages, Compilers, & Runtime Systems

Learn More — >
graphic depicting networking
Networking, Operating Systems, & Distributed Systems

Networking, Operating Systems, & Distributed Systems

Learn More — >
vision robot research
Robotics

Robotics

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Secure, Trustworthy, & Reliable Systems

Secure, Trustworthy, & Reliable Systems

Learn More — >
graphic depicting teacher writing on the board
Theory of Computation

Theory of Computation

Learn More — >
Server farm
Warehouse-Scale & Parallel Systems

Warehouse-Scale & Parallel Systems

Learn More — >

Research Videos

Alumni Bios

Each of these alumni were once in your shoes, deciding on a master’s degree. Explore their educational path and how it set their life in motion.

Image of Dev Goyal

Dev Goyal

MS in Computer Science and Engineering, 2015

Health[at]Scale

Lead Machine Learning Software Engineer

Image of Eric Vander Weele

Eric Vander Weele

MSE Computer Science and Engineering, 2010

Bloomberg L.P.

Engineering Manager

Image of Helen Hagos

Helen Hagos

MSE Computer Science and Engineering, 2016

Menlo Innovations

Software Developer and Consultant

Image of Henry Velick

Henry Velick

MSE Computer Science and Engineering, 1988

Tetra Tech, Inc.

Hacker

Image of Katie Matton

Katie Matton

MSE Computer Engineering, 2019

University of Michigan

Research Assistant, CSE

Image of Shrenik Mehta

Shrenik Mehta

MSE Computer Engineering, 1984

SafeSecureAI LLC

Founder

Image of Dev Goyal

Dev Goyal

National University of Singapore, BE Mechanical Engineer

University of Michigan, MS in Computer Science and Engineering, 2015

Health[at]Scale

Lead Machine Learning Software Engineer

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Career Summary

I pursued research with Michigan faculty, who then went on to found the leading machine learning applied to healthcare startup in the Bay Area. I transitioned into the startup naturally during my graduate education at UoM.

Reflection on Time Spent at U-M

The opportunity to get involved in applied research really helped prepare me for problems in industry as well as the best ways to solve them. This to me was uniquely Michigan!

Image of Eric Vander Weele

Eric Vander Weele

University of Michigan, BSE Computer Science w/ Mathematics Minor, 2008

University of Michigan, MSE Computer Science and Engineering, 2010

Bloomberg L.P.

Engineering Manager

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Career Summary

Since this article – https://news.engin.umich.edu/2017/05/eric-vander-weele-building-bloomberg-lp/, I have moved back to NYC in 2019 to where I continue to run the Python Infrastructure team and have taking on more responsibility to push forward new initiatives.

How does your Master’s degree differentiate you from others?

The skills I acquired and honed during my masters degree set me apart from my peers. Specifically, the critical analysis and thinking skills helped me differentiate sense from nonsense and to really decompose large complex problems/systems. I’ve learned that it is best to always fully understand the problem to its core before determining what the solution and strategy should be to solve it.

Advice to Students

I love running, Bikram yoga, and going to my family’s lake house in Michigan. I was a HKN and DKE fraternity member — my lifelong friends are still from these two organizations. My advice for students: Being able to differentiate sense from nonsense will give you the clarity to better understand the problem and discover the solution quicker. Also, no solution is perfect: Understand the trade-offs you are making and, more importantly, why you decided to make those trade-offs.

Image of Helen Hagos

Helen Hagos

Addis Ababa Institute of Technology, BSc Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2011

University of Michigan, MSE Computer Science and  Engineering, 2016

Menlo Innovations

Software Developer and Consultant

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Career Summary

I moved from Ethiopia to Ann Arbor to attend the MS program at University of Michigan. Since I have a strong interest in the cross section of technology and the mental health space, I became a web developer for the Healthy Minds Network – a research team that works on adolescent mental health at the School of Public Health. Then I joined Menlo Innovations, a custom software development and organizational transformation company. We work across different domains and various technology stacks for projects.This requires finding solutions that are uniquely suited for each product’s particular context. The problem-solving skills I learned while working on research-based projects during my MS continue to help me approach such problems from various angles to find an optimal solution. 

Advice to Students

Some of my favorite experiences were participating in interdisciplinary programs. I tremendously enjoyed collaborating on a project focused on sustainability as part of the Dow Sustainability Fellows program, and taking cognate courses at the School of Social Work. UofM has many interdisciplinary opportunities and offerings. My advice is to take advantage of these opportunities in your areas of interest. I met great people who later helped me in my career trajectory through that route. 

Image of Henry Velick

Henry Velick

University of Arizona, BS Mathematics, 1979

University of Arizona, BS Philosophy, 1979

University of Michigan, MSE Computer Science and Engineering, 1988

Tetra Tech, Inc.

Hacker

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Career Summary

I have been developing software professionally since 1979, where I concentrated mostly in UI and graphics. In 1986, I enrolled at U-M because there was a professor there I had always wanted to work with. Got my MS in Artificial Intelligence in 1988. Since then, I’ve had many jobs for which I was qualified without the Master’s. I’ve never used it professionally, but I’m very glad to have studied for it.

How does your Master’s degree differentiate you from others?

Looks great on paper!

Advice to Students

Do what you love, the money will follow.

Image of Katie Matton

Katie Matton

University of Michigan, BS Computer Science, 2018

University of Michigan, MSE Computer Engineering, 2019 

MIT, PhD Computer Science, joining Fall 2020

University of Michigan

Research Assistant, CSE

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Career Summary

My education as a computer science student at the University of Michigan has opened up numerous opportunities for me. During the summers following my sophomore and junior years, I interned at Microsoft as a software engineer. This provided me with valuable experience in working with large codebases and writing production-level code. However, I found that I wanted to work on projects that had more of an emphasis on exploring new methods and ideas. Therefore, my senior year I decided to get involved in research, and I joined the Computational Human Artificial Intelligence (CHAI) research lab led by Professor Emily Mower Provost. I’ve now been working in Emily’s lab for more than two years – first as an undergraduate, then while pursuing my master’s degree in computer science, and now as a full-time research assistant. My research experience has been incredibly rewarding and intellectually stimulating, and I have grown immensely from it. I’ve learned how to formulate interesting and relevant research questions, how to reason in the face of uncertainty and ambiguity, how to solve technically challenging problems, and how to present my work in a clear and engaging manner. My experience has also motivated my decision to pursue a PhD in computer science. I will start at MIT’s program next fall, and I feel confident that my educational experiences at Michigan have thoroughly prepared me to excel in this new role.

How does your Master’s degree differentiate you from others?

I think the primary way my master’s degree has helped me to differentiate myself is through the research experience I’ve gained and the connections I’ve built with professors throughout my time in the program. My master’s research experience was instrumental in enabling me to prepare strong essays for my PhD applications in that it gave me interesting and technically challenging research projects to discuss. My research experience also provided me with a much clearer understanding of what types of research projects would be interesting and meaningful to work on in the future, which helped me to articulate a compelling vision for future research directions. Additionally, I think that strong recommendation letters from esteemed faculty at the University of Michigan helped to differentiate me from other candidates applying. During my time as a master’s student, I made an effort to develop strong relationships with my research advisor and with the professors whose classes I took, so I had several faculty members who were happy to write me strong letters of recommendation for my application.

Advice to Students

My favorite student org that I joined as a master’s student is ECSEL+, a group focused on supporting women and gender minorities in CSE. The group organizes fun social events like movie nights and trips to different places around Ann Arbor, and I found that it was great way to make friends in CSE. My favorite graduate classes were Advanced Artificial Intelligence, Deep Learning, and Advanced Data Mining. My advice to master’s students is to take advantage of the amazing community of students and faculty that you are a part of as a graduate student. By engaging with your peers and getting to know your professors, you can learn so much and build relationships that last far beyond your time as a student.

Image of Shrenik Mehta

Shrenik Mehta

IIT-BHU Varanasi, BTech Electrical Engineering, 1983

University of Michigan, MSE Computer Engineering, 1984

SafeSecureAI LLC

Founder

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Career Summary

After graduation, I started my career as Design Engineer at AMD working on graphics and networking chips in the Bay Area. Joined a startup Nexgen Microsystems to design X86 microprocessors. I worked almost 20 years at Sun Microsystems working on SPARC microprocessors. I contributed to multiple projects at Sun and eventually got involved in impacting the industry by helping develop industry standards. Today, I work at the intersection of functional safety, cybersecurity and AI for autonomous vehicles.

How does your Master’s degree differentiate you from others?

The Master’s degree provided deeper knowledge in the emerging field of VLSI, Computer Systems, Hardware and Software. The broad but cutting edge curriculum provided a good foundation.

Advice to Students

I have always valued my Michigan education experience, the rigor, the broad course offering, hands on project/lab experiences, living in a college town community, Uno’s pizza, the shuttle bus ride between the two campuses, Michigan Union, the Football games and working/studying in the libraries.

CSE research at the Mair facility

Industries & Occupations

CSE research at the Mair facility
  • Computer systems design
  • Software industry
  • Scientific research
  • Federal Government
  • Data Processing, Hosting, and Internet Services
  • Computer hardware industry
  • Business consulting and management
  • Financial Institutions
CSE career fair

Companies

CSE career fair
  • Amazon
  • Apple
  • ARM
  • Bloomberg
  • Citi
  • Disney
  • Electronic Arts
  • Epic Games
  • Facebook
  • Ford Motor Company
  • General Motors
  • Google
  • Hulu
  • Intel
  • JP Morgan Chase
  • Lockheed Martin
  • Microsoft
  • Motorola Solutions
  • NASA
  • NVIDIA
  • Oracle
  • Qualcomm
  • Samsung
  • Sprint
  • Toyota
CSE research
board meeting

Salaries

Discover the value of a master’s degree!

On average, UM graduates with a master’s degree in an engineering field can earn 15-25% more than those with a bachelor’s degree in engineering.  Use the links below to research average salaries based on a UM engineering master’s degree, experience level, and desired work location.